Mounting system for mounting an alignment instrument on a vehicular wheel adaptable to known bolt patterns

ABSTRACT

A mounting system for mounting an alignment instrument onto a vehicular wheel which is to be used to align the wheel of the vehicle. The mounting system includes a mounting plate which has an engagement structure located directly adjacent the peripheral edge of the mounting plate. At least a pair of lug nuts, and preferably three in number of the lug nuts, of the vehicular wheel are to be removed and replaced with elongated internally threaded sleeves, all the same length, which are substantially longer in length than the lug nuts so that the mounting plate will be mounted in a spaced relationship from the vehicular wheel. The mounting plate includes a series of pre-cut, designated bolt patterns generally radially disposed in a spaced apart arrangement relative to the center of the mounting plate. A fastener assembly is used to fixedly mount the mounting plate onto the elongated internally threaded sleeves. The alignment instrument is then to be clamped onto the mounting plate by engaging with the engagement structure.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The field of this invention relates to a system for mounting of an alignment instrument precisely on a vehicular wheel in order to align that wheel where the alignment instrument does not in and of itself touch the vehicular wheel and the mounting system can be utilized with any known lug bolt pattern on which the vehicle wheel is mounted.

2. Description of the Prior Art

The subject matter of the present invention is deemed to be an improvement over U.S. Pat. No. 7,117,603, which is owned by the present inventor. Proper alignment of vehicle wheels is necessary for smooth, vibration-free handling of the vehicle and also so the vehicle doesn't have a tendency to drift one way or another on the road. Also, proper alignment of vehicle wheels is a necessary component for even tire wear. To accomplish vehicular alignment, it is necessary to establish the position of certain measurements in conjunction with each vehicle wheel. These measurements are camber, caster, steering axis, inclination and toe.

Typical present day alignment instruments utilize placing a separate vehicular instrument (sensor) on each vehicular wheel. Each instrument has an emitter and a receiver. The emitter emits a signal which is transmitted to a receiver of another alignment instrument. The receiver will convert the signal into a value which is indicative of the corresponding alignment angle of the vehicle. This information can be used by the mechanic to adjust the aforementioned measurements in order to achieve the correct and necessary alignment for a vehicular wheel.

Alignment instruments that are in present day usage are normally mounted onto the entire rim of the vehicular wheel. Tire rims sometimes may be damaged and may be slightly out of round or slightly inclined relative to the wheel hub. Such damage frequently occurs by the tire and the rim coming into hard contact with an uneven roadway, such as a chuckhole or a curb. Using of the alignment instrument in conjunction with the tire rim does not achieve an accurate alignment because the rim itself is not correctly aligned relative to the wheel hub on which it is mounted.

Additionally, a great many tire rims are designed to be ornate and have a highly polished chrome surface. Mounting of an alignment instrument on such a vehicular rim frequently causes scratching or denting of the rim. Vehicle owners of such rims take great pride in the appearance of these rims. When a vehicle owner has left his vehicle with a mechanic or tire shop, and when he or she comes back to pick up his or her vehicle finds scratches or dents on the rims, almost invariably the vehicle owner will insist upon replacement, not repair, of these rims. Replacement of each rim can run several hundred dollars in cost to the mechanic or tire shop.

Additionally, most tire rims, in years past, have been manufactured with an annular raised lip located directly adjacent and peripheral edge of the tire rim. The alignment instruments have been constructed to utilize the annular raised lip to mount the instrument onto the tire rim. Currently, some tire rims no longer are being manufactured with this annular raised lip. Therefore, there is no known way to mount the alignment instrument onto the tire rim. The result is the mechanic doing the alignment just does a lot of “fudging” or “speculating” and guesses at what he or she hopes will be a correct alignment. The result is the alignment is of poor quality and proper handling of the vehicle is not obtained. Uneven tire wear is also obtained.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The basic embodiment of the present invention teaches a mounting system adapted to mount an alignment instrument on a vehicle wheel which is fixedly mounted on a wheel hub assembly a series of spaced apart lug bolts that protrude outward from the wheel hub assembly. The mounting system includes a mounting plate with this mounting plate having a peripheral edge and an engagement means located directly adjacent the peripheral edge. A spacing means for fixedly mounting of the mounting plate is utilized in a spaced position from the vehicular wheel. A fastener assembly is secured to the spacing means. The fastener assembly securely mounts the mounting plate on the vehicular wheel. The mounting plate has a series of hole patterns designed to fit known series of bolt patterns. Bolt patterns or bolt circles are defined as the diameter of an imaginary circle formed by the centers of the wheel lugs. Bolt patterns can be 4, 5, 6 or 8 lug holes. A bolt circle of 4×3.93 would indicate a 4 lug pattern on a circle with a diameter of 3.93 inches (or 100 mm). The alignment instrument is adapted to be clamped onto the mounting plate by engaging with the engagement means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present invention, reference is to be made to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the precise arrangement shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an exploded isometric view showing the vehicular wheel and an alignment instrument and the structure of the present invention being mounted in conjunction with the vehicular wheel which is then to be used for mounting of the alignment instrument.

FIG. 2 is an isometric view showing the alignment instrument mounted on the mounting plate of the present invention which is also mounted in conjunction with the vehicular wheel.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken between the alignment instrument and the mounting plate of the structure of the present invention showing more clearly how the mounting plate is mounted in conjunction with the vehicular wheel.

FIG. 4 is a transverse cross-sectional view through the vehicular wheel and mounting plate of the present invention taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3

FIG. 5 is a view of the mounting plate incorporated within the mounting system of the present invention showing which lug bolts could be utilized in order to mount the mounting plate when there is a number of different lug bolt patterns.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Turning to the drawings, the preferred embodiment is illustrated and described by reference characters that denote similar elements throughout the several views of the instant invention.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a conventional alignment instrument which is generally referred to as an aligning sensing head 10. The specific construction of the sensing head 10 does not constitute any specific part of this invention but is deemed to be prior art. The sensing head 10 includes a housing 16. Housing 16 is slidably mounted on a pair of parallel spaced apart rods 12 and 14. The housing 16 has two in number of fingers 18 mounted thereon. Each of the fingers 18 comprise small protruding rods that are located parallel to each other. The housing 16 is slidably mounted on the rods 12 and 14. The rods 12 and 14 are fixedly secured to a crossbar 20. Mounted on the crossbar 20 and located equidistantly spaced from each of the rods 12 and 14 is another finger 22. The purpose of the fingers 18 and 22 will be explained further on in the specification.

Referring particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a vehicular tire 24 which is mounted on a tire rim 30 which is located between a front rim flange 26 and an aft rear flange, not shown. The rim flange 26 and as well as the not shown rim flange are integrally constructed to a disc 28 which is commonly constructed into an ornate configuration. Mounted in conjunction with the disc 28 are a plurality of equiangularly spaced apart lug bolt holes 32. Each lug bolt hole 32 is to have mounted there in a lug bolt, which is not shown, which is utilized in a conventional manner to fixedly secure the disc 28 onto a wheel hub (not shown) for the vehicle. These lug bolts are precisely mounted relative to the wheel hub. The center point of these arranged lug bolts is identical to the center of the wheel hub. It is to be understood that in a typical vehicle there will be four such wheel hubs, two front and two rear. The present invention is only concerned with the two wheel hubs that are located at the front portion of the vehicle where the steering of the vehicle takes place. It is these wheel hubs that are necessary to be aligned according to camber, caster, steering axis inclination and toe in order for the tire 24 to wear evenly as it is being driven on the road.

Some wheel hubs have four in number of lug bolts while others have five in number. Still others have six in number and still others have eight in number. In referring particularly to FIG. 3 of the present invention, there is depicted an arrangement where there are five in number of lug bolts with a left side lug bolt hole 32 being shown in phantom and a right side lug bolt hole 32 being shown in phantom. Lug bolts are being used to fixedly mount the tire 24 onto the wheel hub. Three in number of the lug bolts are removed and are replaced with a spacer in the form of an internally threaded sleeve 48. It is to be understood that there are three in number of the sleeves 48 all the same length which is arbitrarily selected. Each sleeve 48 has a protruding threaded fastener defined as an upper lug bolt 38 and protruded fasteners of sleeves 48 defined as lower lug bolts 40 and 42. The result is that the three different sleeves 48 produce an outwardly spaced attachment area on which is to be located a mounting plate 50. The mounting plate 50 has a series holes drilled therein to correspond to a series of known lug bolt patterns. Lug bolt patterns or bolt circles are defined as the imaginary circle formed by the centers of the wheel lugs. Bolt patterns can be 4, 5, 6 or 8 lug holes. A bolt circle of 4×3.93 would indicate a 4 lug pattern on a circle with a diameter of 3.93 inches (or 100 mm). The center point 56 is to be precisely aligned with the center 58 of the disc 28.

An appropriate nut and washer 64 and 66 respectively is to be mounted on each of the lug bolts 38, 40 and 42 and appropriately tightened which will now fix the mounting plate 50 in a parallel position relative to the rotational plane through the vehicular tire 24. The result is a plane passing directly through the outer edge of the tire rim flange 26 will be located parallel to the plane of the mounting plate 50.

The outer surface of the mounting plate 50 includes an annular groove 68. This annular groove 68 is located directly adjacent the peripheral edge 70 of the mounting plate 50. The fingers 18 and 22 are to be located in conjunction with the annular groove 68 which comprises an enlarged means. An appropriate mechanism included in conjunction with the alignment instrument 10 is then to be operated which will cause the fingers 18 and 22 to be forced outwardly against the outer edge of the annular groove 68 securely mounting the alignment instrument 10 onto the mounting plate 50. There is to be included in conjunction with the alignment instrument 10 a window 72 through which the center point 56 can be observed. This can function as a double check system to make sure that the alignment instrument 10 is centrally mounted relative to the mounting plate 50. The alignment instrument 10 can now be used in a conventional manner to align the position of the mounting plate 50, and since the mounting plate 50 is mounted precisely to the rotational plane of the tire 24, the user knows that when the mounting plate 50 is correctly aligned so also will be the vehicular wheel which comprises the tire 24. Within some vehicles, there are different lug bolt patterns other than the five lug bolt pattern shown in FIG. 3. Included within the mounting plate 50 are a series holes drilled therein to correspond to a series of known lug bolt patterns. Lug bolt patterns or bolt circles are defined as the imaginary circle formed by the centers of the wheel lugs. Bolt patterns can be 4, 5, 6 or 8 lug holes. A bolt circle of 4×3.93 would indicate a 4 lug pattern on a circle with a diameter of 3.93 inches (or 100 mm).

When observing of the disc 28, it can be seen that there is really no place for mounting of the alignment instrument 10 as there is no annular groove, such as groove 68. By utilizing the mounting plate 50 of this invention, a convenient place for mounting the alignment instrument 10 is provided.

FIG. 5 more explicitly shows the variation of lug bolt patterns. R1 corresponds to a bolt pattern than has six lug holes. R1 is the distance from each hole to the center 56. Multiplying R1 by two will give the diameter which is the dimension defined by each pattern. Similarly, R2 corresponds to a six lug hole pattern with a smaller diameter, R3 corresponds to a five lug hole pattern with yet a smaller diameter and R4 corresponds to another five lug hole pattern with yet a smaller diameter. The invention is not limited to these configurations of holes.

The discussion included in this patent is intended to serve as a basic description. The reader should be aware that the specific discussion may not explicitly describe all embodiments possible and alternatives are implicit. Also, this discussion may not fully explain the generic nature of the invention and may not explicitly show how each feature or element can actually be representative or equivalent elements. Again, these are implicitly included in this disclosure. Where the invention is described in device-oriented terminology, each element of the device implicitly performs a function. It should also be understood that a variety of changes may be made without departing from the essence of the invention. Such changes are also implicitly included in the description. These changes still fall within the scope of this invention.

Further, each of the various elements of the invention and claims may also be achieved in a variety of manners. This disclosure should be understood to encompass each such variation, be it a variation of any apparatus embodiment, a method embodiment, or even merely a variation of any element of these. Particularly, it should be understood that as the disclosure relates to elements of the invention, the words for each element may be expressed by equivalent apparatus terms even if only the function or result is the same. Such equivalent, broader, or even more generic terms should be considered to be encompassed in the description of each element or action. Such terms can be substituted where desired to make explicit the implicitly broad coverage to which this invention is entitled. It should be understood that all actions may be expressed as a means for taking that action or as an element which causes that action. Similarly, each physical element disclosed should be understood to encompass a disclosure of the action which that physical element facilitates. Such changes and alternative terms are to be understood to be explicitly included in the description. 

1. A mounting system adapted to mount an alignment instrument on a wheel hub assembly by a series of spaced apart lug bolts that are arranged in a specific pattern that protrude outward from the vehicular wheel, the mounting system comprising: a mounting plate, said mounting plate having a peripheral edge and an engagement means located directly adjacent said peripheral edge, said engagement means comprising an annular groove which includes a wall, the alignment instrument including fingers which are to be forced outwardly against said wall securely mounting by clamping the alignment instrument onto said mounting plate, spacing means for fixedly mounting said mounting plate in a spaced position from the vehicular wheel; and a fastener assembly secured to said spacing means, said fastener assembly for securely mounting said mounting plate on the vehicular wheel, said mounting plate having a series of circular holes drilled therein to correspond to a series of known lug bolt patterns, said known lug bolt patterns corresponding to a first series of circular holes that are a distance R1 from the center of said vehicular wheel, a second series of circular holes that are a distance R2 from said center of said vehicular wheel, a third series of circular holes that are a distance R3 from said center of said vehicular wheel and a fourth series of circular holes that are a distance R4 from said center of said vehicular wheel.
 2. The mounting system as defined in claim 1 wherein said first series of circular holes includes a total of six holes.
 3. The mounting system as defined in claim 1 wherein said second series of circular holes includes a total of six holes.
 4. The mounting system as defined in claim 1 wherein said third series of circular holes includes a total of five holes.
 5. The mounting system as defined in claim 1 wherein said fourth series of circular holes includes a total of five holes.
 6. The mounting system as defined in claim 1 wherein R2 is less than R1.
 7. The mounting system as defined in claim 1 wherein R3 is less than R2.
 8. The mounting system as defined in claim 1 wherein R4 is less than R3. 